Chairman.

Mr Anthony Bailey, OBE, GCSS,

Mr Anthony Bailey was appointed by HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal as Chairman of Painting & Patronage and Special Counsel at its launch in 1999 and is responsible for day-to-day execution and direction of the initiative.

Anthony is active in promoting greater cultural, educational, inter-religious and trade ties between Europe and the Arab world. Between 2002-2010 he served as a HM Government Ministerial Task Force adviser on educational policy. Anthony also holds prominent positions with numerous charitable, inter-religious, educational, foreign affairs and European-Arab bilateral initiatives across the world. He is an adviser to the King Faisal Foundation and a Director of the British-Saudi Society in London.

Anthony Bailey graduated in 1991 from University College London of the University of London and holds diplomas from Budapest University of Economics in Hungary, the University of Sofia and the University of Veliko Turnovo in Bulgaria. He was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 2004 and in 2010 was elected a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Since 1999, Anthony has acted as a consultant to numerous other art and cultural programmes held in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In addition to the illustrious Painting & Patronage art exhibitions in London, Riyadh and Sintra, these include the British Libary’s Sacred exhibition and Russia’s Red Square Invites festival. In 2009 Anthony was appointed to the Board of the Waterford Museum of Treasures in Ireland. In 2012 he was appointed as Co-Chair of Portrait of Our Queen – a national schools competition to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Anthony was awarded the OBE in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours List in Britain and in 2009 was promoted to the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester (GCSS) by decree of HH Pope Benedict XVI. Anthony has been further recognised for his contribution to furthering European-Arab bilateral relations by several foreign states including Jordan, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal and Yemen, and has received Medal of Merit and Cooperation from Luso-Arab Institute for Cooperation. Anthony is married, resides in London and Portugal and travels frequently to Saudi Arabia and further afield.